Over the Docks
This is a fanfic of TUGS and Thomas the Tank Engine based off of the 2006 Dreamworks movie, Over the Hedge. Chapter 1: Just Take What You Need It was winter on the Island of Sodor. The weather was so cold, that the water had turned into ice, so the TUGS had to be shut in their sheds for the winter. One night before spring, when the icy sea was melting, Ten Cents snuck out to find a midnight snack when he was feeling hungry. On his journey, he found a big vending machine. He placed a coin inside, but the chip bag got stuck when it started to leave the vending machine. "NO!" said Ten Cents, ramming into the machine. He tried everything to get a bag of chips out of the vending machine. He tried to bump into it again to make it fall out, then he tried to grab it with a dinosaur grabber, but he ends up breaking it. He tried to throw a boomerang, but it didn't work, either. "What?" He tried to get the chips out with a golf club, but he was so frustrated, he knocked the lights out. Then, he looked into the reflection of the vending machine. There was Johnny Cuba, who had been released from jail, sleeping out at sea. "Johnny Cuba," Ten Cents wondered. "No! No! Bad idea! Bad idea!" Then he felt his boiler bubbling and grumbling. So, Ten Cents slowly and quietly went over to Johnny Cuba's dock. He bumped into a scary-looking warning sign of Johnny Cuba, and he screamed. But miraculously, the scream didn't wake Johnny Cuba up. So, Ten Cents took one bag of chips, and he looked back. There was a giant pile of food for Johnny Cuba. "Just take what you need," said Ten Cents quietly, "Just... take what you need." After a short while, Ten Cents was pulling the entire food pile, when he noticed something on Johnny Cuba's dock. A big can's of Spuddies chips. Ten Cents' crew hopped off, and switched the Spuddies can with a coffee cup. Ten Cents was crying with tears of happiness as he held the Spuddies can. He popped the top off, waking Johnny Cuba up. The giant boat looked around and saw Ten Cents. "Ten Cents?" "Uh..." said Ten Cents, "No?" "The moon's not full. You woke me up a week early?" Then Johnny Cuba noticed that Ten Cents was pulling his giant pile of food away. "Oh no, no," he said as he sailed towards Ten Cents. "Don't tell me you're actually dumb enough to try and steal my stuff. Ten Cents... I'm gonna have to have you scrapped." Ten Cents tried to explain. "Please, I'm just a desperate guy trying to feed his family." "You don't have a family," said Johnny Cuba. "I meant a family of one," said Ten Cents. Johnny Cuba growled. "OK, wait, wait, wait, wait! Look, it's still in the dock so, technically, not stolen." After then, Ten Cents snapped the rope connecting him to the barge of Johnny Cuba's stuff, which started floating away. "Oh no!" Johnny Cuba cried. Ten Cents and Johnny Cuba raced after the barge, but it was drifting away. The two boats yelled at the barge to slow down, until Johnny Cuba shouted, "STOP!", then the waves calmed down, and the barge slowed down. The two boats were relieved and laughed. "Phew!" said Ten Cents. "That was close." Immediately after that, a giant ocean liner crushed the barge with Johnny Cuba's stuff. Johnny Cuba looked at nervous Ten Cents, who zipped off with the big tramp steamer chasing after him. After he got a hold of Ten Cents, he tried to throw him into a furnace. "JOHNNY CUBA!" cried Ten Cents. "WAIT! I CAN GET IT ALL BACK!" Johnny Cuba pulled Ten Cents away from the furnace and looked at him. "That's right!" Ten Cents explained. "If you burn me, you'd have to do it! But I can get it. All of it!" "My red wagon?" asked Johnny Cuba. "Redder!" "The blue cooler?" "Blue cooler, on my list. Gotta be blue?" "Yes!" snapped Johnny Cuba. "And I want my Spuddies. I love those things, 'cause with a Spuddie, enough... just isn't enough." "True," said Ten Cents. "Painfully true. And I'll tell you what. I'll get you the family picnic pack. Family fun-size." "They have that?" asked Johnny Cuba. "I'm pretty sure," Ten Cents replied. "Alright, Ten Cents," said Johnny Cuba, "I'm going back to sleep. When that moon is full, everything be better right back where it was." "But that's just one week!" Ten Cents cried. "That's just impossible for one tug-" Johnny Cuba hit Ten Cents. "A week's perfect. The entire fleet will help." "Full moon," said Johnny Cuba. "All ''my stuff. And ''don't ''even think about running away, because if you do, I will hunt you down, and scrap you." And with that, Johnny Cuba knocked Ten Cents out of his way, and sailed off back to bed. "OK!" said Ten Cents, "OK, buddy! *** just rest easy, all right, 'cause I'm on it. Hey, in a week from now, we're gonna be laughing about this thing." Ten Cents laughed nervously, then hit the vending machine. At last the chip bag fell down. Ten Cents grabbed the chip bag and growled. Then he went to look for stuff to replace Johnny Cuba's old stuff. Chapter 2: It's Spring The next morning, when Ten Cents was still searching for food, the ice melted more in the water. In the tug sheds, there was a small hole over Top Hat. Some snow fell onto his dock. In an instant, he broke out of the doors. "OH BOY, THAT'S COLD! That's cold!" Top Hat cried. "The ONE place where I wasn't wearing a hat!" Top Hat sighed and shook the snow off. He looked around and saw things blossoming, and robins and bugs flying everyhere. "Wow. Spring. That means there's only 274 days left until another icy ocean winter!" He went to the other sheds. "Everybody, wake up!" he whistled. "Hibernation's over!" Sunshine woke up and excitedly burst out of his shed. "Oh, morning!" he said. "Morning, Sunshine," said Top Hat. "I gotta go wee-wee," said Sunshine. Then he rushed off to find the little tug's room. Top Hat looked ahead and said to Sunshine, "The loo is right, not left. We drink from there!" Then he tried to wake everyone else up. "Let's go, alright the rest of you, it's spring. We gotta get to work." Sunshine came back, and sighed with relief. "Ah... Finished. Ooh! No! Wait!" Then he zoomed back to the restroom. "Come on, everybody," said Top Hat. "Wake up. Don't make me come in there." "Ya'll better listen," said Sally Seaplane, threatening to unleash her exhaust everywhere. "I've been holding something in all winter, and I'm about to let it out." Immediately, everyone else rushed out of the sheds. Sally sailed out of her shed. "Thank you, Sally," said Top Hat. "Oh, I can clear a room, Top Hat. That much I can do." "Hmm. I wonder where Ten Cents is." "Must had another one of his midnight snacks, and got lost," said Warrior, as he went to the others. "Good morning, everyone!" said O.J., "Just a super-duper morning, huh?" "Oh, jeepers," groaned Emma Sophia. "Whoa," said O.J, "not looking so good around the eyes there, hon." "Theodore and George were up every three or four weeks," explained Emma, "And Billy kept poking me." "Yeah, well, he is kind of pokey." "The sharpest of the bunch there." "You know what? How about I take the day shift?" "Oh, O.J., that would be super!" "Okay, kids," said O.J. to Theodore Tugboat, George Tugboat, and Billy Shoepack, "You heard your mother. Listen and shape up." The three little boats ran into O.J. Meanwhile, Top Hat was looking in the sheds and finds only one berry branch. "Oh, boy," he said, "This is what I was afraid of." Outside, Sunshine was asking, "Where's the food? Is there any left? I'm hungry, so is there any left?" "We ate all the food, Sunshine," said Lillie Lightship, "During the winter? So we gotta go get some more now." "Oh... RIGHT!" Sunshine cried. "I buried some chocolate cream buns with extra cream in the harbor, I know where they are, I'll be back, BYE!" Some of the last snow from the winter fell onto Hercules. He panicked and pretended to be dead. Everyone mocked him. Lillie fake-laughed, then said, "Hercules, it was just snow." "But it could've been an enemy." "Isn't playing dead a little... weak?" "Lillie, how many times to I have to teach you this? Playing dead is one of our techniques. We die. So that we LIVE!" Emma and Sally were watching Theodore, George, and Billy playing with O.J. "Kids," he said, "I'm the boss of you, okay? So, calm down." "That's what we need to find you this year, don't you know?" Emma told Sally. "A good fella." "A good fella? A good fella?" "Oh, jeepers," said Emma. "Why does everyone think I need a man when my exhaust is acting up?" asked Sally. "So, when you find a fella who's decent, good with kids, and is used to smelly seaplane exhaust, call me!" Meanwhile, Sunshine was looking for where he buried his donuts. He gasped in horror when he saw something towering over the little tug. Chapter 3: Shaun Station Top Hat was trying to get everyone's attention back at the harbor. "I don't care who started it," O.J. told the kids. Top Hat cleared his throat loudly as he showed the berry branch. "Oh, look," said Emma. "Food." "And look!" said Big Mac, excitedly, "Ten Cents!" Everyone whistled for Ten Cents returning. "You silly little tug," groaned Top Hat. "Sorry for my, er... absence," said Ten Cents. "Well," said Top Hat, talking about the branch again, "I think you know what this means." Sunshine zoomed back to Top Hat, looking scared. "Top Hat?" "Just a minute, Sunshine." Top Hat cleared his throat, quieter this time, as he gave the berries to everyone, including Ten Cents, who decided to save his berry. "This means we were 10 berries away from starvation." Everyone gasped in horror. "Sorry. That was a little intense. I meant really serious hunger pains." Sunshine was shaking in horror. He blurted out, "TOP HAT!", then shut his mouth. "Not finished, Sunshine," said Top Hat as he was giving berries to O.J, Emma, Theodore, George, and Billy. "Morning, O.J., Emma." "Thanks!" said Emma. "Hey, kids," said Top Hat as Theodore took Billy's berry. "What I want to tell you is-" Top Hat began. "TOP HAT!!" "I'm not done, Sunshine, if you have to go again, just go! OK, so all I'm saying is, we cut it a little close. So this year, we need to fill the silo..." "All the way to the top," finished Hercules. "Exactly," said Top Hat, "All the way to the top, because what are we?" "Foragers!" said everyone, including Ten Cents. "And what do we forage?" "Food!" "Super, Top Hat, very super," said O.J. "OK, Sunshine," said Top Hat. "Huh?" "What is it?" "What is what?" "What is it you wanted to tell me?" Sunshine thought very hard. "What was it, what was it, what was it, what was it? ...Wait! Right on the tip of my tongue. Oh yeah! There is a weird thing over there, I never seen it before, it's 'REALLY' scary! Follow me!" Then he left to the weird thing's location. "Okay," said Top Hat, "meeting called for 'weird scary thing'." Ten Cents and the friends followed Top Hat and Sunshine. Sunshine arrived at the weird scary thing first. "Okay, Sunshine," said Top Hat. "What weird thing?" Then Top Hat looked up at the source of the casting shadow. "Oh. That weird thing." In front of Ten Cents, Top Hat, and Sunshine was a very big, very new, and very mysterious train station. A couple of fishing docks seperated the watercraft from the station, with special railing to stop them from breaking the docks. Top Hat and the others looked across to see the station's length. Sunshine zoomed into the same direction. "IT NEVER ENDS!" he shouted across. He zipped past Ten Cents to the other direction of the station and back, making Ten Cents dizzy. "It never ends that way, too," said Sunshine. "Jeepers, O.J.," said Emma. "Jeepers is the word there, hon." Ten Cents was curious. He went with his friends as they moved closer to the docks. "What is it?" said Lillie when she started moving past the docks and near the station. "Lillie!" said Hercules as he pulled her away, "No!" "I'm scared," said Theodore. "Me too, Mama," said George to Emma. Emma shushed the kids. "It's OK. It's just a- What is this thing, O.J.?" "It's a-It's a- Top Hat?" "Well, obviously it's... some kind of train station?" "I'd be a lot less afraid of it if I just knew the name," said Emma. "Let's call it Shaun Station!" said Sunshine. "''Shaun Station?" asked Top Hat. "It's a pretty name," explained Sunshine. "Shaun Station sounds nice," said Lillie. "Yeah," said Emma, "I'm a lot less afraid of Shaun Station." "Oh, great and powerful Shaun Station!" said Hercules. "Whaddya want?!" "I don't think it can speak," said Top Hat. "WHAT DID YOU DO NOW?!" bellowed a voice from the other end, scaring everyone, and makes Hercules play dead again. What the watercraft didn't know is that it was Sir Topham Hatt scolding James the Red Engine for getting into a careless accident with his freight cars. "You are in a lot of trouble!" said Sir Topham Hatt, preparing to shut James up in the sheds once again. "Okay," said Sunshine, moving towards the station. "Sunshine," said Top Hat, pulling Sunshine away from the station, "get back here!" "But Shaun is angry!" said Sunshine. "I think it came from the other side of Shaun- I mean Shaun Station- I mean JEEZ!" Top Hat sighed. "Look, there's only one way we're gonna find out what this is all about, I'm gonna go check it out." Then Top Hat carefully sailed ahead to a water ramp, but all his friends were following him. Sally bumped into Top Hat when they reached the ramp. Top Hat looked back with a scream, making everyone else scream in fear, too. "Ai-yi-''yi!" groaned Top Hat. Then, he backed up very far, then flew over the ramp, into the air, over the docks, and crashes into the walls. Luckily, Sir Topham Hatt and James were so far away, they didn't hear the crash. Nor did anyone else, except Thomas, Duck, and Skiff. Top Hat's friends scream in fear. "SHAUN! ATE! TOP HAT!" screamed Hercules. Sally, with her exhaust building up again, sailed towards the hole in the station. "Alright, Shaun," she said, "You brought this on yourself." "Sally, don't!" said Top Hat. "I'm not eaten. I just tripped." Then, Top Hat saw Thomas, Duck, and Skiff come straight towards him. "Ooh," cringed Duck, "That is a big hole in the wall." "Are you OK, Top Hat?" said Thomas. "Just fine," said the tug. "If only I could go on rails like that railboat over there." "Me?" asked Skiff. "Easy," said Captain Joe as he got some wheels like Skiff has out of Thomas' train, and propped Top Hat right on it. Then, Top Hat started speaking to his friends again. "Okay, I got wheels, so, I'm just gonna go over there. Just don't anybody move." "Good luck!" called Thomas to Top Hat, as the wheeled tug started leaving the station. "He's gonna need it, isn't he?" Bill and Ben said to Thomas. "Yes, he is," Thomas replied. "Captain Joe didn't adjust his wheels rightly." "I'm gonna go take a look too," Ten Cents told his watercraft friends. "Good luck," said Lillie. Top Hat carefully looked around the area. Bertie the Bus passed Top Hat by, saying "Hi, Top Hat!" The gates opened as Top Hat spun around on his wheels as he passed across the road, and saw engines both standard gauge, narrow gauge, and even miniature gauge. It looked suburban. "What is this place?" said Top Hat. Ten Cents got onto some wheels like Skiff has, too. He got into an elevator. The elevator sent him up high, so he could see the entirety of the station. Top Hat was too busy watching a butterfly fly by. "Oh. Hey there, little-" The butterfly hit Gordon passing by. "...fella." The dead butterfly fell into the ocean. Top Hat gagged when he saw the butterfly floating around in the ocean. He backed into some buffers, and braked hard when the buffers break, and knock over a sculpture of a dog with his head in the ground, only the dog was headless, which revolted Top Hat even more. He steamed away quickly, only to derail himself and bump into another statue, only of a steam engine. "Hi?" The steam engine turned out to be a sprinkler and shot water at Top Hat and his wheels at full blast. "AAAAHHH!" Top Hat and his wheels crash into Edward's train of big metal balls. Top Hat and his wheels rolled along the ground on top of the balls. "My apologies, Edward!" called Top Hat. "These rails aren't a thing I'm used to!" He and his wheels crashed into Toby's train full of silverware and thumbtacks. "Sorry, Toby, and ow," said Top Hat as he was tangled in a garden hose which got impaled by a knife. The garden hose started throwing Top Hat around in the air as the water blasted them all around. "Careful, Top Hat!" called Toby, as he and the other engines witnessed the chaos currently happening. Top Hat flew out of the garden hose's grip. The garden hose fell on top of Percy as the little green engine gasped when he saw Top Hat the screaming flying tugboat land back on his wheels. He was riding the wet, watery rails. He screamed again when he saw Daisy the Diesel Railcar. Top Hat was switched to some points just as Daisy was blowing her horn. Top Hat became derailed again and bumped into a mailbox. Tom Tipper's mail van, Bulgy, and Elizabeth sent Top Hat spinning across the slippery watery road. Bulgy bumped into Top Hat, sending him screaming and flying into the hole he crashed through. Chapter 4: Gateway to the Good Life Top Hat sailed right over his friends and fell back into the water. "Top Hat's back," said Sunshine. "Jeepers," said Emma. "Come on," said Theodore, "Let's get him!" "What was over there?" asked Hercules as Sunshine was helping Top Hat back up. "These freaky statues and long trains of freight cars!" cried Top Hat, still traumatized of what happened. He continued as O.J. and Emma propped him up properly. "They must've come while they were hibernating! Those engines wouldn't stop coming, even though I don't blame them, but it was like they kept showing up to torture me, like some... sick game!" "You should have died!" explained Hercules. "You should have shut your eyes, and died." "Hercules," said Lillie. "That's not the worst part," said Top Hat. "Half the harbor is gone!" "Huh?" said Emma. "The whole coral reefs," said Top Hat, "And the berry bushes. They're just- They're-they're just... ''gone!" "Jeepers..." said Emma nervously. "What will we do for food?" asked Sally. "How are we gonna live?" asked George. Top Hat looked at all his friends. "...I don't know," he said. "But here's what I do know. We'll all be fine as long we tugs don't visit Shaun Station again." "First of all," said Ten Cents, "it's actually West Arlesburgh Station. Captain Star told me that, and he also told me that it is not to be feared, my monocled rubber raft friend. He reported to Sir Topham Hatt about the statues all in the wrong places, and as long as the station is completely clean and less engines are traveling, then it will be the gateway to the good life for watercraft." "...Well," said Top Hat, "actually... I'm a tugboat, not a rubber raft." "Oh, right," said Ten Cents before he started to take some things out of his golf bag, onto O.J.'s dock, then pulled out a map of Arlesburgh. "Anyway, I think I can shed a little light on what this station situation is about. You see, last year, Arlesburgh had no other extensions, except for a few things like the Harwick Branch Line, so us tugs could go anywhere, until during the winter, while we were all asleep, when the people built over 2 acres of Arlesburgh City Station over this exact area, and they're planning to build more right here." Everyone gasped. "No, no, no, don't worry," Ten Cents reassured. "You guys'll hibernate again when there's an icy pond next winter, right? You gather food, store it for the winter?" "We fill the silo!" said Sunshine. "Sunshine!" said Top Hat. "Really?" asked Ten Cents. "All the way to the top," added Hercules. "Hercules!" said Top Hat. "Let me ask you," said Ten Cents as Sunshine helped him measure the silo, "How long does it take? You know, to fill the silo?" "One whole month," Lillie answered. "Oooh..." said Ten Cents, "Ever done it in a week?" "That's impossible!" cried Top Hat. "Not if we work together!" said Ten Cents, "You got the food gathering skills, I've got the know-how, and they've got the food!" "How much food?" asked Lillie. "Loads of food. Heaps ''of food! Food out the 'wazoo!" "Well," said Top Hat, "you know, whatever food comes out of a wazoo, I-I don't think we're interested in eating." "I don't know," said O.J., "he's making a lot of sense to me, I think we should listen" "I'm OK with wazoo food," said Emma with pink heart-shaped sunglasses on. "No, you're not," said Top Hat as he took Emma's glasses off. "The stack is tingling." Everyone agreed with Top Hat. "Hold on," said Ten Cents, "I forgot what that meant, so could you run that by again?" "When something doesn't feel right, my stack tingles, and let me tell you something," Top Hat said as he took the golf club from O.J. and gave it and the sunglasses back to Ten Cents, "your new behavior so far is driving my stack crazy." "Listen, Top Hat, this isn't something you need to be afraid of." "Well, I am!" said Top Hat to Ten Cents. "And for good reason!" He turned and showed some tire marks on his back. "This is not a birthmark." "That's because you went over there without a guide," said Ten Cents as he cleaned Top Hat's tire marks with an electric toothbrush." "Thanks for telling us," said Top Hat, "We're not interested." "Not interested in the most delicious food you've ever tasted?" "No!" "Come on." "''Not... '''interested!" "Okay," said Ten Cents, "I get it. I understand. This is just something you're not... open to." He opened a bag of chips, and lots of fresh chip dust flew everywhere all over the tugs, tinting them with orange dust. A giant nuclear mushroom cloud-shaped chip dust cloud could be seen from Earth. "WHAT IS 'THAT!?" screamed Sunshine excitedly. "That my friend," said Ten Cents as he gave away some chips, "is a magical combination of corn flour, dehydrated cheese solids, BHA, BHT, and good old MSG. A.K.A., the chip. Nacho cheese flavor. "More, please! More!" said Sunshine. "Yeah, Top Hat!" said Sally, "Those were good!" "It's all good!" cried Ten Cents, throwing more chips, "And we're going over there! Tonight! Yeah!" Chapter 5: Welcome to Arlesburgh City That night, after Sir Topham Hatt and his crew cleared the station for the tugs to play in. "Welcome..." said Ten Cents as he waved over a motion detector, turning lots of things on. "...to Arlesburgh City." Just then, Disney-esque sprinklers shot water up into the air. Some of the watercraft were swimming in the pool with said sprinklers. The kid tugs were dancing in front of a big metal ball that Edward left just for them. Top Hat looked around as Lillie looked at the steam engine sprinkler. "Jeepers," said Emma as she admired a topiary statue of her basis. "How's that stack, Top Hat?" Ten Cents asked. "Listen, if anyone in this family gets hurt, I'm holding you personally responsible." "They're having a good time. I'll take responsibility for that." The tugs swam in the pool between the sprinklers. "Hey, Toppo," said O.J, "I took a few clippings out of my straw hat to do a little comparision, look at this. The grass seems to be greener over there." "Top Hat," said Hercules "are you sure you came to the same place?" "Yeah, because Ten Cents said-" began Sally. "Okay," said Top Hat, "I get it. So he can do a couple of tricks, I mean, it's not like he can walk on air." "Hey, everybody!" said Ten Cents, puffing on an invisible bridge way up above the others. "This way to the food!" Ten Cents' friends got on their wheels and followed him, leaving Top Hat behind as the sprinklers turned off. When Top Hat decided to follow them as well, they noticed a big coach. "What is that?" asked Sunshine. "That is an engine coach," explained Ten Cents, "It's one of the reasons why humans are slowly losing their ability to walk." "Jeepers, it's so big!" said Emma. "How many humans fit in there?" asked O.J. "On rare occasions?" said Ten Cents. "One." After Gordon the Big Engine coupled said coach to his evening train, he puffed away, when Daisy showed up, talking on the phone. The wheeled watercraft hide from the big diesel engine. "Hi, this is Daisy. You know, Daisy? The diesel railcar? Right." "Jeepers," said Emma. "Hey, don't start acting like Ferdinand, now," said Top Hat. "What is that?" whimpered Sunshine. "Easy, easy," said Ten Cents, "don't worry. That is a diesel railcar. She's an engine just like Thomas and Edward. Okay, she's more like Mavis and BoCo, those three don't run on steam, but still, she's an engine. But if she does happen to see you stealing, just act casual, and if necessary, just clean your lips with your tongue. They love it!" "The homeowner's charter which ''you '''signed," said Daisy as she was coupled up to her evening train, "said the grass was supposed to be 2 inches, and according to my measuring stick, yours is 2.5." Then, Daisy left. "Could we just get the food and go?" asked Big Mac. "Really, do they have it or not?" "Didn't you see it?" said Ten Cents."It was in the cars. They always have the food. We eat to live. These guys live to eat. ...Let me show you what I'm talking about. The human mouth is called a 'pie hole'. The human being is called a 'couch potato'." He turned to a phone. "That is a device to summon food." A doorbell rings. "That is one of the many voices of food." He turns to a door. "That is a portal for the passing of the food. That is one of the food transportation vehicles. Humans bring the food, take the food, ship the food, they ''drive ''the food, they 'wear 'the food!" The watercraft looks at a barbecue. "That keeps the food hot!" They move to a cooler. "That keeps the food cold!" They move to a pinata in the shape of a tugboat wearing a top hat and a monocle. "That... I'm not sure what that is." Just then, a kid breaks the pinata open raining candy. "AAHH!" screamed Top Hat. "What do you know?" said Ten Cents. "FOOD!" The watercraft watch a family as they say grace at a table. "That is the altar where they worship... food." They look at a TV commercial for an antacid. "That is what they eat when they eat too much food." They watch a man exercising on a treadmill. "That gets rid of the guilt, so they can eat ''more ''food! Food! Food! FOOD! FOOD! 'FOOOOOOOOD! 'So... you think they have enough?" The others nod. "Well, they don't! For humans, enough is ''never enough!" The others gasp in surprise. "And what do the engines do with the leftovers they don't eat today? They save them in gleaming, silver cars... just for us." "Go ahead!" cried Thomas to Ten Cents, signaling him to derail all of the food cars, spilling heaps of food everywhere. "Sweet jeepers," said Emma. "Dig in!" cried Ten Cents, signaling everyone to eat food all at once. Ten Cents saw Warrior as he was about to eat something. "Ah... that's a diaper. And that does ''come out of a wazoo. So, what do you think? Was I right or was I right? And these things are just the leftovers! Wait'll you see comes fresh in the boxes, packages, and cans! I'm telling you, stick with me, and in one week we will gather enough food to... ''to feed an Australian gangster tramp steamer!" Everyone looked at Ten Cents. "Just a figure of speech." Everyone looked from a corner. Oliver the tugboat came out, and saw them. "HALT! INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS! Get out, all of you!" Daisy came back from her evening train. "What is it, baby?" she asked Oliver, then screamed when she saw Ten Cents and his friends, scaring them as well. They started to lick their lips. "What are you doing?!" asked Ten Cents. "You said we should lick our-" began O.J. "NO! Nix that! RUN!" The watercraft ran away from Daisy as she swung her broom around. "Get out of here!" she cried. Lillie Lightship shrieked as Top Hat cried out "To the door!" "Get out of here!" cried Daisy, "I just mopped this patio! Filthy boats!" She threw her broom at them. Ten Cents followed after his friends through the door of the station and back into the ocean. "You kids alright?" asked O.J. to Billy, Theodore, and George. "Stay with me." "We'll find other food, right?" Lillie asked Hercules. "See?" said Top Hat. "That's what I was talking about! These guys don't want us around!" "So we scared her," said Ten Cents, "She's Daisy the Diesel Railcar. She overreacted. No biggie." "No biggie?! Oh... That is what we call a biggie." "Come on, think about the food, it was worth it for that food, huh? That stuff is to die ''for!" Hercules fainted. "Let me rephrase that," said Ten Cents. "No," said Top Hat. "To die for. You nailed that part. Listen. I speak for the whole family when we want NOTHING to do with 'ANYTHING 'that's over the docks!" Top Hat and the other watercraft left Ten Cents behind. "Come on!" said Ten Cents. "You haven't even tried donuts yet! You wanna store fat? That is the way to store some fat. You'll be sweatin' through the winter!" "We'll eat the driftwood, right?" Lillie asked Hercules. "Okay," said Ten Cents. "Okay. All right, you guys sleep on it. Good idea. I'm gonna check back with you. ...Shoot! Almost had 'em." Chapter 6: Elizabeth's New Friend Ten Cents went into his shed while Top Hat guided the others to their sheds. Ten Cents' crew looked for a blanket for their boat. "Goodnight, Lillie," said Top Hat. "Goodnight," she yawned. "Goodnight, Hercules." "Goodnight, Top Hat." "Goodnight, O.J." "Yeah, goodnight there, Top Hat." "Goodnight, Emma Sophia." "Goodnight, Top Hat." "Goodnight, Big Mac." "Goodnight, Top Hat." "Goodnight, Warrior." "Goodnight, Top Hat." "Goodnight, Sunshine." "GOODNIGHT, TOP HAT!" "Night, Theodore." "Goodnight, Top Hat." "Goodnight, Billy Shoepack." "Goodnight, Uncle Top Hat." "Goodnight, George." "Night, Uncle Top Hat." "Remember, when we wake up, there'll be 243 days left 'till winter!" said Top Hat as Ten Cents got into his blanket. "That's enough, Top Hat," said Sally. "Goodnight," said Top Hat, as Ten Cents' crew shut their boat's doors, but not fast enough, for the wind blew Ten Cents' blanket off, and outside into the ocean. "243." Ten Cents was mumbling in his sleep. "...Spuddies...Cooler...Wagon...Redder wagon..." Just then, his doors creaked open, and a chain pulled him out. "Time's up, Ten Cents," said Johnny Cuba. "But I have six more days!" Ten Cents cried. Johnny Cuba started pushing him into a furnace. "No! 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ten Cents suddenly woke up in the morning in his shed from his bad dream. The daylight crept inbetween the doors. "OK. Whistle. Flag. Still alive. Still alive." He went outside and saw the others gathering their own food from in the harbor. O.J. rips off a big chunk of driftwood for the kids. "Okay, kids, here it is. Driftwood for breakfast." George threw the driftwood away. "I want a donut!" said Billy. "I want pizza!" said Theodore as Sally is fishing for seaweed. Sunshine turns on a chainsaw that is attached to his front and cuts a triangle-shape into a large square piece of wood. He saw a swarm of big honeybees fly around. He grabbed all of the bees and rubbed them on the wooden triangle to make it look like a nacho cheese flavored chip. The bees fly away dizzily back to their homes back at the orchard with Trevor the Traction Engine as Sunshine licked the wooden triangle. He groaned after tasting it. Ten Cents looked around as Top Hat carried a big bunch of driftwood. He placed it after passing Sunshine and took a bite out of the piece of driftwood. "Okay. This is great." He took another bite out of the driftwood. The wood made the chewing very slow. "Granted, it takes some time to chew. But that..." Top Hat gulped, and after his engine starts rattling and smoke comes out of his funnel, he said, "That was very satisfying. And by the way, lots of fiber in there too! Mmm!" He took another bite. "Lots." He hears Thomas, Edward, and Percy's whistles and spit out the driftwood. Ten Cents drifted by to see the three engines. "Morning, Thomas!" "Morning, Ten Cents!" "Morning, Edward and Percy!" "Morning!" they said. "You have to help us," said Edward. "We were going down the branch line, when we saw Elizabeth and her new lorry sister, named Lori." explained Thomas. "Were they rude to you?" asked Ten Cents "I'm afraid they were," said Percy, "especially Lori the new lorry." "They said I was too old to be Sir Topham Hatt's engine," said Edward. "They said I didn't deserve to be number 1!" cried Thomas. "And they said I looked ugly and I was a green caterpillar with red stripes!" said Percy. "That insult was just plain wrong!" said Thomas. "For lorries who deliver cookies," said Edward, "those were horrid lorries!" "I know how that feels like," said Ten Cents, but then he thought of something. "Cookies? In their backs?" "Yeah," said Thomas. "But they had so much cookies, they had to use a red wagon," said Percy. "A red wagon?" "Redder," said James, who was listening nearby. "YES!" Ten Cents cried. "Guys, I know exactly how we can get back at the lorries. Top Hat, can I work with Sunshine?" "Sure." "You wanna help me find my cream buns, Ten Cents?" asked Sunshine. "Very tempting, Sunshine, very tempting. I wanna show you this!" Ten Cents pulled out a chocolate chip cookie with a bandage on it. Sunshine sniffed the cookie. "You like this cookie?" Ten Cents said. "Ohhhhh-'''ho-ho-ho..." said Sunshine. "Well, this cookie's JUNK!" Ten Cents cried as he threw the cookie away. "But I like the cookie," wheezed Sunshine. "Easy, easy, don't worry. I know where there are cookies so valuable, that they are carefully delivered by special lorries." Sunshine perked up. Chapter 7: Zombie Tug Elizabeth and Lori were driving down the forest road, reading the directions, and pulling the cookies. Thomas, Edward, Percy, Ten Cents, Sunshine, Theo, Lexi, and Merlin were watching them. "And there they are," said Ten Cents to Sunshine, "Sodor's most coveted cookies: Mr. Jolly's, Winnamons, Nana Nanas, and ''Whackeroons! And guess what? They're all yours!" "Ooh," said Sunshine, then lunged to the lorries with his mouth open wide, but was stopped by Ten Cents' chain. "Whoa, Sunshine!" said Ten Cents. "I love your energy, but you just can't take 'em!" "But you just said they're mine!" "They ''will ''be, 'if''' we successfully marry your manic energy to my brilliant plan!" "Ooh, I love weddings!" said Merlin cheerfully. "I'll be the flower girl!" sung Lexi. "I'll be the ring bear!" said Merlin, to which, Lexi responded with a bear growl. "No, that's a ring bearer," said Thomas as Ten Cents told Sunshine "Are you with me, kid?" "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-" "The I's have it. Let's ride." Ten Cents pulled his load with Sunshine tagging along. "What am I, then?" asked Theo. "I'm not sure," said Lexi. "...We'll think about it soon enough." Ten Cents and Sunshine followed the lorries, and the engines followed them to keep a lookout if the lorries spotted trouble. They hid behind some coaches and freight cars while the two lorries were talking to each other about allergies. "Invisibility on!" Merlin cried as he vanished in a puff of steam. Meanwhile, Ten Cents noticed Sunshine arguing with his own reflection in a coach window. "Hey! You stay away from those cookies. They're mine!" He screamed as Ten Cents hit the coaches and cleared his throat. "Hey," said Sunshine, "This guy's not coming is he? 'Cause I don't want him to!" "Oh, we have so much work to do," said Ten notCents. "Come on. Step into my office." The Experimental engines all looked around for a physical office. Chapter 8: Sugar Rush Chapter 9: Hercules' Performance Chapter 10: The Food's Gone Chapter 11: Here's the Plan Chapter 12: Tugs Are On the Rails